XI

The foothills were oddly small in this area, climbing little before reaching the mountains which grew up out of the ground like a wall. It was like some unnatural construct of geology.

Yoreno hadn’t noticed from afar, but there were large marble statues at the entrance of the North Pass, aged and cracked, the head on the left one had fallen to remain in the sand at its own feet.

“I changed my mind,” Yoreno said. “This is eerie.”

“Damn,” Dell said.

“Come on,” Lev complained. “This has been here for ages. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Those statues are not very inviting,” Mai said. “Lev, you have to agree that this place is…” she shivered.

“What are they?” Dorrin asked.

They looked like cat-like monsters that stood on two legs with the heads of men. The one on the right had its arms crossed, two scythe-like swords in its fists. The one on the left, missing its head, would have looked much like the other—a scowling visage of teeth and angry eyes topped with a headdress and crown.

“Some long dead civilization,” Sorika said.

“I wonder if these were here before the Age of Darkness,” Yoreno mused. Had they been, he had never heard of anything like this near Aevalin. The kingdom’s reach was far spanning, its influence and allies reached to every edge of the continent. That all changed after the Grand Bastard opened a tear into the world beyond in an attempt to let in more magic.

What came through were monsters and dark energies that took hold in the world—forever changing everything. The results gave many dark mages and sorcerers immense power, as they shielded themselves inside their towers and leaving the rest of the world to die.

The very knowledge of such evil and maligned arrogance astonished Yoreno. Now, seven-hundred years later, much of the known world was yet to be rediscovered. Perhaps these statues had been erected several hundred years ago as some new civilization attempted to gain a foothold.

How it came to end, was a mystery, one Yoreno was completely unaware of. If there had been a civilization here several hundred years ago that was in contact with Aevalin, and then fell…

“Perhaps we will find someone who lives in this area that can tell us more.”

“Whatever,” Lev said. “Let’s push on and find that fellow we’re after. He’s headed for the Kilik Dungeon. Got your map?”

“Yeah,” Yoreno said. He pulled it out of his pack and sat it on a rock between them all. Their horses neighed softly as a gust of wind blew past them.

“It’s getting cold,” Mai muttered.

“Once we’re in that… whatever it is—the wind will be blocked.”

“The sun is warm though,” Dorrin said. “I don’t mind it.

“Now look,” Yoreno said. “This path—I can’t believe they’re calling it a mountain pass—leads in a winding manner further up into the mountains where it eventually comes to the Kilik Dungeon.”

“A dungeon far up in the mountains located in a sunken path guarded by monster statues,” Dorrin said. “That’s not frightening at all.”

“The dungeon is probably long cleared,” Dell said.

“Unless it’s got a source of evil magic,” Sorika added. “A dungeon can be cleared a hundred times. If you don’t get to the source of the magic—“

“We know,” Lev said. “Yoreno can tell us all about that, can’t you, Yor?”

“Yeah,” he said. “At the Isle of Morr, Dantera and I found a place of dark magic located deep into a crag. The Schuarists there were siphoning it. It’s still there, I believe.”

“Why?” Dorrin asked, his eyes wide. “Why didn’t you destroy it?”

“With what,” Yoreno asked. “You can’t kill a spawning pool of dark magic with a blade. I have no idea. Dantera said it was a very difficult thing.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t worry,” Lev said. “If that dungeon had monsters spewing from its maw, we’d probably have encountered some of them already.”

“I haven’t seen another soul for at last three days,” Sorika said. “There’s a reason no one lives out here.”

“We don’t know that reason,” Yoreno said, though he felt like he was convincing himself of his own statement. There surely was a reason.

“We’ll find out,” Lev said. Then he laughed.

“What are you so excited about?” Dell asked.

Lev grinned and spread out his arms. “It’s exciting, isn’t it? We’re on an adventure—fighting monsters, fighting bandits. We’ll probably get to kill some assassins. We’ll have so many stories by the time we get back to Aevalin.”

“I would prefer fewer stories,” Dorrin said.

Dell smiled. “You know, I think Lev is right.”

“Of course I am.”

“What?” Sorika asked.

“Come on,” Dell said. “Live a little. We’re adventurers. It’s in our blood.”

Yoreno nodded. “I know what you mean,” he said.

“That’s so reckless,” Mai added reproachfully.

“Well,” Lev said. “What’s better, a group of scared travellers or a group of reckless adventurers out to show the world what they’re made of? Which of those groups do you think will find Dantera and bring her home?”

Sorika put her hands on her hips and blew a lock of hair away from her eyes. “So you’re convincing yourself that you’re out to show the world what you’re made of?”

“I don’t need to convince myself of anything. I know who I am.”

“Me too,” Yoreno said.

“And me,” Dell said. “We’re adventurers. Let’s go on an adventure!”

“Yeah!” Lev bellowed excitedly.

“Yep,” Mai said. “We’re in a group with a bunch of crazy boys.”

“Ha!” Lev scoffed.

Yoreno shrugged.“Come on. Let’s travel this path up to the Kilik Dungeon.”

“And should monsters attack us?” Dorrin asked.

Dell slapped him on the arm. “Then we kill them all.”

“Oh,” Dorrin said. “I see.”

Yoreno looked up at the canyon wall, at the clear, but natural-looking cut between them. The path was full of sand.

With a deep breath, he turned and grabbed his horse’s reigns. “It’s time this adventure began in earnest,” he said. He looked back at the group and unsheathed his sword. “Follow me.”